The present invention relates to tab sheet and flip-file card assemblies and methods for forming tabbed sheets, dividers or cards with the desired indicia printed on the tabs thereof.
A number of brands of software are available for causing laser, ink jet and other printers or copiers to print the desired indicia directly on tabs of dividers. However, the tabs of these dividers extend approximately one-half inch out from the divider sheet edge, which causes printer feeding problems. Where the body of the sheet has a width of 8 1/2 inches, the one-half inch wide tab makes the effective sheet width nine inches. Unfortunately, many standard printers or photocopiers can only accept rectangular sheets whose widths do not exceed 8 1/2 inches.
Also, when tabbed dividers are fed in the portrait direction of the divider sheet using multipurpose or cassette trays into ink jet, electrophotographic or laser printers, the dividers tend to skew as they enter the printer. This skewing occurs because the tabs, by sticking out from the edge of the body of the sheet, do not provide full continuous contact of each divider to the paper guide of the (multipurpose) printer tray. Additionally, since the paper guide is much shorter than the divider itself, the last few tab positions do not contact the paper guide; specifically, the fourth and fifth tabs of a five tab set and the fifth through eighth tabs of an eight tab set do not contact it. When these dividers are fed into the printer, the tabs can catch causing the dividers to not feed straight into the printer.